Logbook entry

1. BGS stands for “Background Simulation.” The BGS is a complex algorithm/set of algorithms that controls the influence levels and “states” (such as: war, boom, famine, expansion, etc) of the many minor factions in Elite: Dangerous.
2. The BGS is a complex beast, and FDev semi-frequently updates the mechanics that drive it. The updates are usually bug fixes, or patches for exploits, so rarely do major and well known mechanics get changed. One such example of a recent change:
• Trading goods for profit will result in the controlling faction of the station you are trading to gaining influence. You used to be able to trade X number of goods one at a time for a larger influence gain than if you had sold them all at once. The BGS gave more influence for the many transactions of single units, than for one transaction of many units. Obviously, that was a flawed system, and has since been fixed.
3. As a member of the Logisticae, it will be your duty to assist the Legion’s BGS efforts, and to learn the basics of how minor factions are influenced and controlled. We will teach you about:
• The various types of government a minor faction can be, each of the “states” a minor faction can be in, how to raise or lower the influence of a minor faction, how missions affect and are affected by faction states, and how the BGS affects Power Play.

In addition to learning about these basics, you will get hands on experience by assisting the Legion with its priorities.

Before we go over the many, many facets and intricacies of the BGS, you need to understand the current state of our own minor faction within the BGS. This is so that you do not accidentally harm our influence or set us back by mistake, and so that you already have a basic understanding of the Legion’s place in our sector when your more general education begins.

The following is a list of systems that Lavigny’s Legion has influence in, whether or not we control the system, the assets in-system, and whether or not we control them:

Legion Systems (Please familiarize yourself with the below list. Almost every action taken by CMDRs influences the BGS in some way. This list, in conjunction with some following guidelines, will ensure you do not harm our BGS efforts in any of those systems by mistake.)





Side Note:

1. All factions in a system share influence from a pool of 100 points. If Faction A gains 5% influence, that 5% is drained from the other factions in the system.
2. This means that completing actions that raise influence for factions other than the Legion not only directly assists our rivals, but it also directly hurts us.
3. You may operate with minimal restrictions in the Legion’s sector of space, UNLESS:
• The Legion is below 45% influence in a system we control.
• The next highest-influence faction is within 10% of the Legion’s level of influence in a system we control.
• We do not control the system.
4. If any of the above parameters are true, then please see the following list! If the above parameters are not true, feel free to run missions for whoever and trade wherever.
• These rules are set so that you can operate mostly as you wish, without causing damage by mistake.
• These rules are also set to help create a more “natural” flow of influence, and to keep us from being on the brink of expansion at all times.

What Not to Do (When The Guidelines Above Are True):

1. Do not trade goods (for a profit) to assets that the Legion is not in control of when in one of the above systems. Please refer to the above-list if you are uncertain of where to sell your goods.
• Trading goods for a profit raises the influence of the faction that controls the asset you are trading to.
2. Do not run missions for minor factions other than Lavigny’s Legion when in any of the above-listed systems.
• Completing a mission results in a direct boost in influence to the controlling faction (discluding the consideration of several faction states that result in influence changes requiring specific actions).
3. Do not hand in bounty vouchers or exploration data to an asset that the Legion is not in control of when in any of the above-listed systems.
• Handing in bounty vouchers and exploration data are treated as positive transactions, in relation to the BGS, in the same way that trading for profit is. Handing in bounties and exploration data both result in positive influence gains for the faction the controls the asset.

What Not to Do ALL THE TIME:

1. Do not trade to any Black Markets at any asset that we control.
• Black Market trading directly lowers the influence of the faction that controls the asset where the trading is being done.
2. Do not kill the system security when in a system under the control of the Legion, and do not kill wanted Lavigny’s Legion NPCs.
• Killing system security results in a DIRECT drop in influence to the controlling faction of the system. Killing system security fills the invisible “meter” for the Lockdown and Civil Unrest states, as well.

The galaxy of Elite: Dangerous is full of thousands of different minor factions (henceforth simply “factions”). These factions are who operate the stations and planetary bases, who hand out missions to you, and whose system security ships patrol and protect the space they inhabit. Factions can be one of many different government types, and often (but not always) are aligned with one of the game’s superpowers. Alignment (or lack thereof) with certain superpowers also changes the “flavor” (essentially ideology) of the faction in different ways. The government types a faction can be (and the “flavor” change that allegiance/lack of allegiance to the superpowers brings) are:

1. Different faction types have different laws, and ban different types of goods (this is also related to superpower affiliation).
2. In order to “rank up” with the navy of one of the superpowers, you must do missions for a faction that is aligned to that power.
3. The higher your reputation with a particular superpower, the faster you will gain reputation with a faction that aligns with that superpower.
4. There can only be 7 factions in one system (unless the system had more than 7 before the cap was added, or FDev adds one themselves for some reason).
5. Player-factions often do not follow some of the same rules as regular factions, in regards to the types of governments they can enter into elections in, and the types of goods that are/are not illegal in systems the player-faction controls.

Government Types:

• "Influence" is the unit of measurement by which actions in the BGS are recorded. Almost every action taken by CMDRs in any given system will affect the influence levels of the various factions. All the factions in any given system share from a pool of 100 points of influence. This means that if one faction gains influence, then it is drained from the others; if one faction looses influence, then it bleeds into the others.
• The influence of the many systems in Elite Dangerous does not change as soon as you run a mission or hand in some bounties. The influence changes once (occasionally twice) every day, during something the BGS community knows as the "tick." The tick generally happens around 4:00 pm GMT, but often fluctuates to times several hours earlier or later. You can check the influence of the factions of any system you have the ability to view from the system map, from the system map! The system map is generally considered to be more accurate than the "4 Panel" in your ships UI, although it does not give you pending faction states like your UI will.
• There is a near-myriad of actions that can affect the influence of factions in a system, and they are as follows:
1. Increases Influence for a Faction
• Turning in bounties issued by them (if your faction does not own the station, then both yours and the station controller will gain influence).
• Turning in "blanket" superpower bounty vouchers to a station they control.
• Running missions for that faction.
• Picking up a mission for your faction in system A, and then handing it in at system B, will also raise the influence of the faction you deliver that mission to.
• Selling exploration data to their stations.
• Trading for a profit to their markets.
• Reducing the influence of other factions will cause some if it to bleed into your chosen one.
2. Reducing Influence for a Faction
• Increasing the influence of other factions, who will drain it from all of the others.
• Trading to black markets they control.
• Destroying their ships, especially they system security if they control the system.
• Trading at a loss to the a market controlled by the faction you are targeting for influence drop.
• The population of the system you are attempting to affect the influence levels of plays a direct role in doing so. The higher the population of a system, the harder it will be to affect the influence levels. There are also diminishing returns on each of the above listed actions, meaning that you can only focus on one type of influence-moving-action for so long per tick before it makes no difference any longer. No one is currently 100% sure what the diminishing returns are per action type per population level, but we apply some blanket rules to ensure no one wastes their precious time. The amount of time/effort we generally put into one faction in any singular system is around:
Generalized Diminishing Return Caps
• Missions: 5 missions per faction
• Bounties: 3-5 drops of bounty vouchers (Min 200k).
• Turning in 200,000cr 3-5 times, instead of 1,000,000cr once, results in a higher influence gain overall due to the additional transactions that the game logs.
• Trading: Influence gains are by the transaction with trading, and higher profit margins results in a higher influence bonus per transaction. Between 3-5 trade runs makes a noticeable difference in influence on the following tick.
  
• Destroying enemy ships: Go wild, guys! We have no idea where the return for this (if any) lies, but we have dropped a faction 40% in one day before, so go crazy!

WIP

1. Economic
BoomCountdown: 2 daysMin/Max duration: 3/28 daysCooldown: 2 daysBustCountdown: 2 daysMin/Max duration: 3/28 daysCooldown: 2 daysCivil UnrestCountdown: 1 dayMin/Max duration: 3/7 daysCooldown: 3 daysLockdownCountdown: 1 dayMin/Max length: 3/14 daysCooldown: 1 dayFamineCountdown: 3 daysMin/Max length: 3/28 daysCooldown: 25 daysOutbreakCountdown: 4 daysMin/Max length: 3/28 daysCooldown: 7 days
2. Conflict
ElectionsCountdown: 3 daysMin/Max duration: 4/5 daysCooldown: 2 daysCivil WarCountdown: 3 daysMin/Max duration: 4/28 daysCooldown: 0 daysWarCountdown: 3 daysMin/Max duration: 4/28 daysCooldown: 0 days
3. Other
ExpansionCountdown: 5 daysMin/Max length: 3/7 days, will typically run for 5 days from my experience.Cooldown: 2 daysInvestmentRetreatCountdown: 1 dayMin/Max duration: Unknown/5 daysCooldown: Unknown

Coming soon!